Eve of Destruction: Failed U.S. Lunar Lander Bound for Fiery End in Earth’s Atmosphere

The doomed $108 million lander suffered a critical propellant leak shortly after launching from Florida on its Vulcan rocket last week, as Breitbart News reported.

Although engineers were able to stabilise the situation, the loss of oxidiser meant a safe touch-down on the lunar surface could never be attempted.

Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic has decided to dispose of the craft, rather let it wander aimlessly through space, posing a collision hazard.

It is reportedly carrying a sample of President John F Kennedy’s DNA alongside the ashes of dozens of people, all of which will now be lost.

At around 4pm EST (9pm GMT) on Thursday, the craft will hit an uninhabited region the South Pacific Ocean, about 400 miles south of Fiji. This map supplied by Astrobotic shows the re-entry area with the purple circle offering a 99 per cent degree of certainty where it will hit, while the inner red circle offers a 68 per cent certainty of where it will hit.

“Astrobotic has positioned the Peregrine spacecraft for a safe, controlled re-entry to Earth over a remote area of the South Pacific. The team has been continuously monitoring our re-entry analysis with [the US space agency, Nasa],” the company said in its latest mission update.

“We expect re-entry to occur at approximately 16:00 Thursday, January 18 EST (21:00 GMT).”

Peregrine is the first of eight planned missions in NASA’s commercial lunar payload services initiative.

How it started: The brand new rocket, United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan Centaur, lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41d at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 8, 2024, for its maiden voyage, carrying Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander. (CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP)